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Money and missiles on the table as EU-Russia summit opens
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 14 - 11 - 2008


The global financial crisis and concerns over
Russian and US plans to site missiles in Europe looked set to top the
agenda on Friday as Russian and European Union leaders met in the
French resort of Nice, according to dpa.
With a meeting of the world's greatest powers in Washington on the
financial crisis just 24 hours away, the summit's host, French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, and his guest, Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev, are expected to spend much of their time discussing a joint
approach to solving the world's financial problems.
"Our stance on how the (world) financial architecture should look
in the future corresponds. ... I believe that tomorrow night in
Washington we'll speak the same language. It's obvious," Medvedev
told EU and Russian businessmen on Thursday.
Both presidents are set to board flights for Washington
immediately after their meeting in Nice, with Sarkozy travelling in
his capacity as current holder of the EU's rotating presidency.
Formally, the main outcome of the EU-Russia summit is likely to be
a confirmation that the two sides are set to re-open talks on a
strategic treaty on issues ranging from trade to culture.
The EU froze the talks on September 1 in protest at Russia's
August invasion of Georgia. EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed to
re-open the talks despite Lithuanian objections.
Observers say that the two presidents could also discuss the
related questions of Russian proposals for a "new security
architecture" in Europe, and a Russian threat to site missiles on the
border of EU members Poland and Lithuania.
Medvedev made the threat in his state-of-the-nation address on
November 5, but subsequently toned down his rhetoric, insisting that
Russia would only go ahead with the deployment if plans by the US to
site a missile-defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic went
ahead.
According to EU sources, Sarkozy is set to raise the bloc's
concerns over the whole question of Russia's foreign policy doctrine
of "spheres of influence" in Eastern Europe.
However, analysts say the presidents are likely to try and steer
clear of a clash over the most contentious issue on the table,
Russia's August invasion of Georgia.
While EU foreign ministers on Monday insisted that the bloc was
not back to "business as usual" with Russia, neither president has
anything to gain from an open row just before the Washington talks.
"It wouldn't help to have a public argument now," Hans-Henning
Schroeder, head of Russia studies at Berlin's SWP institute for
international politics and security, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
dpa.


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